This invention relates to the art of foods and, more particularly, to non-fat food products including a fat mimetic as an additional ingredient rather than as a fat substitute.
As is well known, fat mimetics, are edible materials used as fat replacements in foods to reduce the calories in the foods without decreasing the palatability and flavor of the food. Fat mimetics are materials which are inherently of lower caloric value than the fats they replace. Therefore, the calorie intake in a food containing a fat mimetic as a replacement for fat is reduced relative to the same food with fat. At the same time, the fat mimetic retains the desirable physical and organoleptic characteristics of fat in the food to which it is added.
A number of fat mimetics for the latter purpose and/or food products containing fat substitutes or replacements are disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,830,787 to Klemann et al; 4,915,974 to D'Amelia et al; 4,985,270 to Singer et al; 5,011,701 to Baer et al; 5,063,075 to Yarger et al; and, 5,064,678 to Klemann et al, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference. These patents disclose a variety of materials and compositions useful in foods such as pie fillings, frozen dairy products, salad dressings, icings and the like to reduce the fat content of the food product while maintaining the physical and organoleptic characteristics of the food product which would be attained if the food were prepared with fat. In all of these patents, the fat mimetic is a substitute or replacement for fat in a food which normally contains fat. In addition to the foregoing patents, U.S. Pat. No. 4,988,527 to Buckholz et al discloses the use of sclareolide for enhancing the organoleptic properties of food stuff whereby, for example, the sweetness of a jelly resulting from the use of a non-nutritive sweetener such as aspartame is enhanced by mixing sclareolide with the non-nutritive sweetener, and U.S. Pat. No. 3,947,604 to McGinley et al discloses an edible jelly having improved spreadability and resistance to heat at baking temperatures by incorporating in the jelly recipe a small amount of a composition of beta-1, 4 glucan and sodium carboxymethyl cellulose. Neither sclareolide nor the composition disclosed in the patent to McGinley has the characteristics of a fat mimetic, namely the ability to mimic the smooth and creamy mouthfeel, texture and lubricity of fat, when incorporated into a food product.